Police reveal woman's final actions

Former Bethlehem dance teacher spoke of divorce before slaying.

Gwendel Greenblatt was home from work that February afternoon a year ago, chatting on a cell phone with a friend, talking about getting a divorce.

Suddenly over the phone, Christina Vignone heard Greenblatt screaming and her dog barking. She dialed Greenblatt's home in Florida on another line, but it just rang and rang.

Someone with a gun was chasing the former Bethlehem dance teacher around her West Palm Beach apartment. The intruder caught up to her and shot her in the face, then stepped close to her and put a bullet through the top of her head.

When police arrived about 3:30 p.m., they found Greenblatt bleeding and barely alive in a closet. Soon afterward in a hospital, the wounds ended her life.

During a news conference at the Bethlehem barracks of the state police, he asked for the public's help in solving the crime.

Police held a similar news conference in West Palm Beach, trying to stir up leads in a case that's frustrated them for a year.

For the first time, Iman revealed what Vignone and Greenblatt were talking about on the phone in the moments before the shooting -- Greenblatt's interest in getting a divorce from her husband, Matthew.

Gwendel Greenblatt, 35, had taught dance for years at her family's studio on W. Broad Street in Bethlehem and was the head massage therapist at the Breakers, a luxury resort in Palm Beach.

Iman said she had arrived home at the Royal St. George Apartments and was talking on a cell phone with Vignone, who later told police about the conversation.

"She told us that she was talking to Gwendel about divorcing [her husband] and that she did not hear any voices other than Gwendel's scream," Iman said.

Vignone called police, who found Greenblatt in the closet. Her dog, Shaquille, was wearing his leash and hadn't been shot.

Iman said there was no sign of a break-in, nothing stolen or ransacked and no sign of sexual abuse.

"We usually look to the spouse first in cases like this, and while there is not enough evidence to point to Matthew, there is not enough to clear him either," Iman said.

For three years before her slaying, Greenblatt was separated from her husband, a Salisbury High School graduate who worked as a sales representative at Synthetic Thread, a multimillion-dollar manufacturer in Bethlehem owned and operated by his family.

The couple lived about a mile from each other in Florida.

At first Matthew Greenblatt cooperated with the investigation and gave police a DNA sample, Iman said, but after a gun residue test came back positive, he told police to speak to his attorney from then on.

Greenblatt told police that around the time of the homicide he was dropping off some videos, getting a haircut and going to a store for his grandmother, Iman said.

"We know he got a haircut that day because when he came to our station there was hair on his shirt," Iman said. "But we have not been able to confirm he was at any of those places or what times."

Iman said police know Greenblatt had several girlfriends in Florida during the separation from his wife and that he told them he was not ready to end the marriage, but also was not ready to return to it.

"We also have not found any evidence of Gwendel having a boyfriend and, as far as we can tell, [she] did not even know about her husband's girlfriends," Iman said. "They also still had an intimate relationship from time to time."

Iman said police are not in contact with Greenblatt or his lawyer, and that last they heard he was living in Las Vegas.

"We are just hoping that someone will remember something and help us solve this," Iman said.

He will remain in the Lehigh Valley through the weekend and asked that anyone with information call state police at 610-861-2026, his cell phone at 561-662-5641 or his office at 561-653-3636.